Brown Paper Bag
by Diana Raven
Summary: Gajeel made Lily his lunch, but after a bad experience with Gajeel's last lunch he made Lily, Lily doesn't know if he should try it. A small blue-haired mechanic bounds in at that exact moment. One-shot, Modern!AU


Lily studied the brown paper bag on his desk warily. It wasn't like his lunch smelled bad, in fact, it smelled great! Gajeel had used some combination of exotic spices in his newest recipe. Pros of having a chef as a roommate? Wide variety of random foods to try for dinner. Cons? Sometimes those random foods carry ill wishes (such as food poisoning, or simply a bad enough taste to make one throw up).

This was the reason that Lily was considering not consuming the contents of the brown lunch bag. The bottom of the bag had begun to support grease stains and Lily almost gave in the temptations of the bag of unknown results. After all if it had grease leaking out of it, how bad could it be?

Lily reached for the bag and had flashbacks to last week when he had a horrible case of food poisoning. At least Gajeel was a good guy whenever one of his abominations almost (or did) sent Lily to the hospital. He could cook (normal) food that Lily loved, and he would take care of Carla (much to her annoyance) if Lily couldn't. Sometimes he even visited the shop, he was still a licensed mechanic even if he almost never spent time in the shop. He preferred his restaurant, Fairy Tail, where he was one of the chefs. So Lily took care of Lily and Gajeel's Auto and Body by himself. Lily liked the smell of grease (the non-cooking kind) and metal, and he _loved_ his shop, even if his prim daughter, Carla, disapproved.

A cheerful knock on the door broke Lily from his train of thought. His newest (and if he did say so himself, best) mechanic skipped in. The small azure-haired (a choice which Lily thought odd, but suited her) hazel-eyed woman settled into one of the cushion-y chairs opposite Lily and his brown paper bag of questionable contents.

"Smells delicious in here, boss!" She sang as she relaxed in the chair. She was short enough that she could cross her legs and still have plenty of room to move around on the seat of the chair.

Lily returned his attention to the brown bag of Schrodinger's food; either it contained a food of endless delectability or it contained Lily's next trip to the hospital, and neither was certain until Lily took the first bite.

Levy McGarden raised a blue eyebrow at the cryptic pause. "Is it _not_ delicious, boss?"

"Call me Lily, and I haven't tried it yet."

"Hence the staring match, Lily?"

Lily sat back in his swivel chair. "As far as I know this could and probably will make me ill."

A frown curved Levy's baby pink lips. "You didn't make it yourself?"

Lily shook his head. "My roommate did. He works over at Fairy Tail, you know the place?" Levy nodded. "Well, he's the exotic chef. He brings in the weird un-Fiorean food you see on the menu. He also does the specialized orders that people have and makes sure they actually taste good."

"Okay... so why the hesitation?"

"Well all that stuff he _doesn't_ put on the menu is usually because he saw that Carla and I either got sick or didn't like it. I'm his guinea pig."

Levy nodded, understanding. "You know, Lily, if you want, I'll be your canary in the mine shaft."

Lily surveyed the woman carefully, and then the brown paper bag of possibilities. "Are you sure? You weren't here after I ate his kumin, zaatar, ketchup, bean and cheese burrito." Levy made a face that made Lily laugh. "Yeah, it tasted like that too." Lily waved a hand. "But if you are willing to risk your taste buds, go ahead."

Carefully Levy picked up the grease stained paper bag of looming results. The bottom was now soaked with excess grease and the liquid had left a shiny spot on Lily's desk. She opened the bag and the perfume of spices which Lily couldn't name became more pungent. Levy stuck his hand in and pulled out a stuffed puff pastry, dripping with oil. She took a careful wiff and then bit into the concoction. Levy's eyes went wide and Lily gripped his armrests in anticipation.

"Well...?" Lily asked.

Levy took her time as she chewed. The inside of the pastry seemed to be filled with spiced ground beef, grilled peppers, and some type of cheese. Finally she swallowed and grinned toothily at her employer.

"It's amazing!" She cried. "Do you mind if I take another bite?"

Lily laughed. "Have the whole thing. Gajeel will be happy to know that he had a second taste tester."

"Wait, Gajeel?" As in Lily and Gajeel's Auto and Body? As in Gajeel Redfox?"

"Yeah...?"

"That's so funny! My best friend is Natsu's girlfriend!"

"You know Lucy?"

"Yeah! Wait- isn't Gajeel living with the rest of the cousins?"

Lily shook his head. "Not after Natsu adopted his kid. Gajeel moved out."

Levy narrowed her eyes. "Don't you have a kid?"

Lily grinned. "I do, but Happy and Carla are two very different children."

"Huh." Levy said, smiling herself. "Small world I guess." She took another bite of the pastry and was halfway out the door when Lily stopped her.

"Hey, why did you come in here? It wasn't just because of my lunch was it?"

"Oh right." Levy mumbled through a mouth of food. She swallowed before answering. "Mr. Ichiya is back and he's complaining that I didn't fix Christina correctly. He said that my _parfum_ ," Levy rolled her eyes,"was all over the place and he wanted you to check her over."

Lily stood with a sigh. "Gajeel was the only one he trusted with that car. The thing breaks all the time, he really needs to trust my mechanics," The last sentence Lily had mumbled to himself, "I'll see what I can do." He told her.

Before Lily walked out, he sent one last looked at the now determined brown bag of delicious lunch. Well, if it didn't kill Levy then it probably wouldn't kill him. That was a start.


End file.
